


Love is Endless

by Charlie_chan16



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bisexual Lance (Voltron), F/M, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Gay Keith (Voltron), Gay Shiro (Voltron), Implied Sexual Content, Light Angst, M/M, Minor Allura/Lotor (Voltron), Not Beta Read, endgame klance, friends to lovers to friends to lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:40:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23635477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Charlie_chan16/pseuds/Charlie_chan16
Summary: He sniffled again, “I dunno, maybe I’m just not meant for anyone.”“Of course you are Lance,” Keith said, accustomed to pulling Lance out of these kinds of funks. “There’s someone out there who loves you for you, who will stick with your through thick and thin and never let go.” Keith pulled Lance closer to his side, tucking his head under his chin.And within the few minutes it took for Lance to drift into a light doze, Keith realised he wanted that to be him, to be Lance’s one.I’m screwed, he thought as he pushed a few strands of Lance’s hair from his forehead.
Relationships: Adam/Shiro (Voltron), Allura/Lance (Voltron), James Griffin/Keith (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron), Klance is Endgame don't worry
Comments: 2
Kudos: 93





	Love is Endless

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lynxrider](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lynxrider/gifts).



> Officer it was Lynx who made me do it! Blame her not me!! 
> 
> Yes I know there are quite a few of these kinds of fics in this fandom, but I just rewatched season 6 of VLD and realised why I fell in love with this ship in the first place. 
> 
> I honestly thought that this was going to be longer, but oh well. 6k the boys pining and growing up together was fun to write over two days. I needed it though and it felt so good to just sit and let my fingers run wild. 
> 
> BTW the title is from Billie Eilish's 'listen before i go'. 
> 
> Also, the plan for this oneshot was colour coded to each person. I've never felt so organised in my life. 
> 
> Anyway lovely humans. Enjoy! <3

It starts on October twenty third, and again a few months later on July twenty eighth. Two dates, a few months apart and seemingly adequate on the day they occurred. Both blistering hot with the sun bearing down on the earth. And to any normal person, both ordinary days with normal happenings.

But, to two families, they were special days. Birthdays. One, to Keith Akira Kogane, the other to Lance Leandro McClain.

In Cuba, Lance is wailing and being wrapped up in a blanket by a nurse. He’s handed to his mother, and Liana gazes down at her son with adoring eyes as Hector cradles them both in his arms.

In Texas, Keith cries in his cot as the front door closes loudly, kicking his blanket off with his chubby little legs. His father sits on a kitchen chair with his head in his hands. Krolia’s drawers and dressing table stand empty, and Keith sobs for a mother that wasn’t coming back.

His father would say when he grew older that she wanted to explore the world on her own when Keith asked why he only had a dad and not a mom. She would tell him in a letter that it was because the house felt too small, that she didn’t want to be a domestic housewife.

These two boys from two different lives met in kindergarten, at the innocent age of four.

It was a few years after Lance’s family moved to America. He found the cool sunlit weather of Texas nicer than that of Cuba. That didn’t mean he wasn’t homesick for the sprawling beach of Varadero.

He stood in the courtyard of the school building, bright blue eyes taking in the masses of kids that surrounded him. His brothers and sister had already broken away from him and his mother to head into classes, leaving Lance to clutch the leg of his mom’s trousers tightly.

“Hey Lancelot, it’s alright,” his mom cooed, crouching down to his level. “You’ll make so many friends here. And by the time I come to collect you, you won’t want to leave.”

He smiled shyly at that, feeling less nervous than he had and nodded, taking her hand again to be led inside. He spotted another kid across from him, and his eyes alighted in curiosity.

The kid was his age, with black hair and the most unusual coloured eyes Lance had ever seen. They were purple, like the violets growing in his back garden, but with hints of grey, like the clouds that would lumber along the sky on a rainy day. The kid was clutching his dad’s hand tightly, glancing around nervously before landing on Lance.

Lance smiled shyly at him, raising his hand for a small wave which was returned hesitantly. The kid’s dad seemed to notice, smiling kindly at Lance. He watched as the two of them stepped forward to register, and the kid was left alone.

“Alright _Mijo,_ I’ll come to pick you up later,” his mom said, leaning forward to kiss his cheek. “We might go for ice cream.” And Lance gasped in delight, throwing his arms around her waist for a hug before hurrying into his classroom.

He plopped himself down next to the kid, smiling wider now that they were away from adults. “Hi,” he began, catching his attention, “I’m Lance. I like rain and ice cream. I don’t like when my brother Marco steals the remote.”

The kid sat there for a few seconds in stunned silence, his pretty eyes taking Lance in. “I-I’m Keith,” he began, glancing at their teacher in case he got in trouble for talking out of turn. She was too concentrated on another child who seemed on the brink of a tantrum. “I like my hippo Pogi. I don’t like baths.”

“Woah, you have a hippo?!” Lance asked, astounded that he could have such a pet. His Mami wouldn’t even allow him to get a hamster. “How big is it?”

Keith held his thumb and forefinger quite close together, and Lance blinked in surprise.

“That’s not a hippo,” he told Keith, “That’s an ant.”

Now it was Keith’s turn, and he tilted his head to the side. “He is a hippo. He’s got the ears and the teeth and everything,” he retorted, his voice going a bit louder.

“Oh yeah?” Lance taunted, “prove it. Bring him in tomorrow.”

Keith seemed to be nervous about that proposal, biting his lip. “I’m not allowed take him out,” he murmured, gaze darting down to where his fingers were twisting in anxiousness.

“Well how about I come over to your house tomorrow to see him?” Lance said, and Keith’s gaze darted up to catch his. “Then you can prove it to me without taking him outside.”

“Okay,” Keith replied, nodding in agreement.

It was then the teacher clapped her hands to begin their lessons, and Lance fidgeted in his seat the whole time in excitement, watching the clock on the wall turn ever so slowly to the end of the day.

He practically sprinted to his Mami when the end of the day bell rang, calling out a goodbye to Keith and another boy named Hunk. Lance liked Hunk. He was kind and gave Lance some of his apple slices when he dropped his on the floor.

He was even shyer than Keith, but that was okay because Lance liked being able to talk without being shouted over (*cough* Veronica *cough*).

“Hi Lancelot,” his mom said as he dashed over to her, immediately taking her hand as they began the walk to the car. “How was your day?”

And Lance launched into a detailed recalling of his first day at school. He glanced briefly over the lessons he had but described Hunk and Keith with great enthusiasm to his mom. He was still going when they pulled up to the ice cream shop, and Lance only paused to point out which flavour he wanted.

“They sound like very nice boys baby, I’m so proud of you,” she told him when he finished.

“Keith said that he’d show me Pogi if I went to his house tomorrow,” Lance told her, taking a slurp of his half melted ice cream. “Is that okay?”

“Well we’ll have to check with Keith’s dad, alright sweetheart?” Lance nodded furtively as he continued to finish his treat.

Lance didn’t ask why Keith’s mom was never around. He could tell it was a delicate subject and left it alone. It was something that wasn’t even talked about until years later when Keith would turn up at Lance’s doorstep, almost in tears saying that his mom had returned and he’d climbed out his window to get to Lance’s house quickly.

The years of the three of them in primary school were good for them, and their group grew larger when Matt Holt’s sister Katie – who was determined for them to call her Pidge – joined their group. She’d skipped a few grades to join their class and Hunk had taken her under his wing immediately, Lance and Keith welcoming her easily.

It was one sunny day at Hunk’s house when Shiro came to pick Keith up. Shiro was his cousin on his dad’s side and he lived about twenty minutes out from town. Keith idolised him, calling Shiro his big brother – which he didn’t mind all that much.

His eyes were puffy and red when Hunk’s mom opened the door. His voice shaky as he asked for Keith. When the boy came to the door, Shiro crouched to meet his eye level placing his hands on Keith’s tiny shoulders.

“Keith,” he began, and had to pause to gather himself. “Something happened to your dad at work, and I need you to come with me now to the hospital.”

“Why? What happened to Pop?” Keith asked, anxiety already clutching his heart tight. “Can Lance come?” And his hand reached behind him to clutch his best friend’s, trusting and knowing he would be behind him.

Lance’s long fingers gave Keith’s a squeeze, and Shiro looked reluctant to deny Keith that support.

“Bud, Lance won’t be able to come in. It’s family members only, and he’d be very bored waiting with us,” Shiro explained gently.

“I wouldn’t,” Lance told him, gripping Keith’s hand tighter, determined not to let go. “And if I get tired Mom can come pick me up.”

A crease formed between Shiro’s eyebrows as he thought, and he sighed when he finally stood up. “Alright, but as soon as it gets too late, you’re going home alright?” And the two kids nodded quickly.

“I’ll go call Liana and let her know,” Hunk’s mom said, disappearing into the corridor to reach the phone.

“We want to come too!” came Pidge’s small voice, a determined look on her face. Hunk stood behind her, nervously biting his lip but looking as stubborn.

“No, you have to defeat the trolls and get the treasure before the lava reaches it,” Lance deflected, acting as if Pidge and Hunk abandoning the game was the worst thing that could happen.

It took a while, but finally Pidge and Hunk were back in the sitting room on the carpet, and Keith, Lance and Shiro were in the car on the way to the hospital.

They waited for hours in the reception on the hard plastic chairs, and Lance had to be sent home before the doctor came out. There would be no surprise anyway. Keith’s dad passed away that night at exactly 10:04 in the evening. The damage from the plank of wood that had fallen on him and the smoke inhalation became too much for him.

Keith couldn’t stop crying. He wished his dad hadn’t been so _selfless_ to go back in for the people trapped in the burning building. He clutched onto Shiro and wept for a long time before he finally fell asleep against his brother’s shoulder.

It was a few weeks later that Mr and Mrs Shirogane showed Keith the letter.

He’d been staying with them during the months after the accident, and he was eternally grateful for how kind they were being. Granted, they were his relatives, but he still worked hard in the house to make up for the extra work he’d cause, the extra food they’d have to buy.

So it was on a calm Sunday afternoon that the letter was slid across the dinner table to rest against Keith’s cutlery. The writing was swirly and neat as a pin. It was also difficult to read for Keith’s eight year old eyes, but he managed it with Shiro’s help. It was from his mother. The one that had run off to explore the world.

His gaze drank in her words, how she was sorry to hear about his dad, why she can’t come home and how guilty she felt. But, that he’s in good hands with his Aunt and Uncle.

He tore it to shreds when he was finished reading it, dropping the pieces in the bin in anger. He _hated_ her; he’d never forgive her if she tried to come back again.

“I have something to tell you guys,” Shiro suddenly said to the general dinner table one night. Three pairs of chopsticks stilled, and Keith glanced up to him. Shiro looked…scared, which was an expression Keith had never seen on Shiro’s face before.

Shiro swallowed, hard.

“I-I’m gay,” he said quietly, eyes glued firmly to his plate and shoulders drawn up to his ears as if he was expecting a blow from any of them.

“Thank you,” his mom said after a few moments of silence, and Shiro’s gaze darted up in surprise. “Thank you, for being my son. And for telling me in such an honest way.”

Tears welled up in Shiro’s eyes and he sniffled, wiping his nose with his sleeves. Keith tangled his legs with his big brother’s from across the table, giving a small smile when he looked his way.

“Takashi,” came his father’s voice, and Shiro’s shoulders tensed again. Mr Shirogane wiped his mouth with his napkin clearing his throat before levelling Shiro with a stern stare. “I am proud to call you my son. What you did, what you’ve owned up to is on a scale of bravery not many men can handle.”

“Thanks dad,” Shiro said, giving his father a watery smile in joy, and the meal went on as with a joy that hovered over the table for the rest of dinner.

Lance doesn’t know when it started. It could’ve been when he was twelve and had spotted the most beautiful couple across from them in restaurant. His blue eyes had taken in both people before turning back to his meal.

Or, maybe it was when he was eight and had been kissed by Josh Crawely behind the bicycle shed and hadn’t minded one bit.

Or, perhaps it had been tonight, with multiple bodies pressed against him and Nyma’s lips pressed against his and his brain replacing her blonde hair with black tresses, her tanned skin with a pale complexion and her round bust with a flat torso and a pert ass.

He rolled with it anyway, feeling as if this great revelation sat at the end of his tongue, mingling with his saliva and waiting for a moment to slip out of his mouth and into the open.

He knew something was up with himself when his blue eyes kept on sliding down to Keith’s plump lips and pretty eyes, his laugh and the smiles that seem to be for Lance and Lance alone replaying over and over in his head.

And when he got home after a study session, he googled it for himself. Staring at the word that came up on his laptop for minutes on end.

Bisexual.

It sounded like such a big word to describe what Lance felt, and he tried to wrap his head around it.

When he was a kid, he thought something was eternally wrong with him, when he gazed at boys as much as he did girls. It was amended slightly when his sister Veronica brought home her girlfriend of now three years Axca, but for months he felt wrong in his own skin, as if it didn’t fit right.

He dialled Shiro’s number a few minutes later, big fat crocodile tears running down his cheeks as he explained everything to the guy he idolised almost as much as Keith did. He apologised profusely, feeling like such a burden when it turned out he’d woken him up. But Shiro, being the kindest human being Lance ever met bar Hunk, calmed him and talked with him until it grew light outside, and Lance’s mom was rapping her knuckles against his door to wake him up. 

“Thank you, Shiro,” Lance told him, a huge weight lifted from his shoulders. He wiped the dried tears from his face, grimacing at his red puffy eyes in the bathroom as he moisturised and combed his fingers through his mussed up hair.

Keith had seen Lance cry many times. Whether it be during yet another viewing of Marley & Me with Lance snottily blowing his nose throughout the whole thing even though the dog hadn’t even died yet.

Or that one time Lance came running in floods of tears about his broken nail, to which Pidge had roared in laughter, falling off the sofa and landing on the floor in a heap.

Or, when Lance had cried with Keith the day of his father’s funeral.

However, all the times Lance had cried, he never did it quietly. Except for the day Nyma broke his heart.

He’d turned up at Keith’s door that day, shoulders slouched, and lips turned down and tears trailing tracks down his cheeks. Keith let him in immediately, tugging him in from the cold and leading him to the sitting room. Both his Aunt and Uncle were out, and Shiro was up in his room studying for a test he had that week.

“She ran off with a _stoner_ Keith. A stoner, that stupid Rolo guy who sits in the back in our chemistry class,” Lance told him, and Keith wordlessly handed over a tissue. Lance blew his nose loudly tossing the used tissue over the edge of the sofa and onto the carpet.

“I mean, what did I do wrong? Was I too clingy? Too demanding?” he sniffled, wiping his nose with his sleeve.

“I doubt that,” Keith said, slinging an arm over Lance’s shoulders. “I think Nyma just wasn’t right for you, and she probably realised that before you and decided to cut it off before it became too messy.”

“Well if she wasn’t the one, then who is?” Lance asked miserably. “Like, every single relationship I’ve had ends in heartbreak, either for me or for them.”

He sniffled again, “I dunno, maybe I’m just not meant for anyone.”

“Of course you are Lance,” Keith said, accustomed to pulling Lance out of these kinds of funks. “There’s someone out there who loves you for you, who will stick with your through thick and thin and never let go.” Keith pulled Lance closer to his side, tucking his head under his chin.

And within the few minutes it took for Lance to drift into a light doze, Keith realised he wanted that to be him, to be Lance’s one.

 _I’m screwed,_ he thought as he pushed a few strands of Lance’s hair from his forehead.

It hurt. Everything was white hot with pain, and it felt like fire under his skin.

His head pounded harshly, and his blood roared in his ears. He tried to peel his eyes open, and only managed one, which was snapped closed immediately as the harsh light aggravated his head.

He took stock of himself for a few seconds, noticing the feeling of gravity pulling him down, and he realised he was upside down, the seatbelt being the only thing keeping him from falling to the ceiling of the car and worsening whatever injuries he might have.

He heard voices shouting from outside the car, frantic screams and booming commands. He didn’t like how loud they were being; it caused his head to pound worse than it had been.

He attempted to turn his neck but winced when it twitched in pain. Most likely whiplash.

He heard a groan from inside the car but couldn’t look to see who it was. His sight was glued to the seat in front of him, where his Aunt should be sitting. He could see her head, but she wasn’t moving.

The car was suddenly moved, jostled by something outside, and he suddenly heard Shiro shriek in pain beside him. Keith flinched at the inhuman noise, eyes brimming with tears as he shouted over the sound, trying to get them to _stop please you’re hurting him!_

His headache grew worse, and black encroached his vision. He shook his head, hissing in pain as he attempted to stay awake. Wrenching his eyes open, he opened his mouth to talk to Shiro.

“Sh’ro,” he slurred, his tongue feeling heavy in his mouth. His brother made no sign that he’d heard him, and Keith could hear his teeth creak as his jaw was clenched in pain. “We’re g’nna be ‘lright.”

Shiro whimpered again, and Keith tried one more time to comfort him before it all went black.

He woke in a hospital bed, disoriented and nauseous. Someone was sitting at his bedside, and Keith made an inquisitive noise. The figure was tall, but they stood and left the room before Keith could get a good look at them. They came back again a few minutes later with three others in tow.

Keith recognised the blue eyes when the figure came to his side again. “L’nce,” he murmured, reaching out with a shaking hand for his. Lance was there immediately, clutching his fingers tight as a doctor rounded the other side of the bed.

Hunk and Pidge stood at the end of his bed, but Keith couldn’t get a good look at them with his sight so blurry.

“You still have a mild concussion my boy,” the doctor told him while he shone a flashlight first in one eye than the other. “It’d be best if you didn’t try to strain yourself.”

Keith couldn’t take his eyes off the man’s amazing moustache, watching it jump on his upper lip as he asked Keith questions. He answered them to the best of his ability with his scrambled thoughts, although they were short and not that informative. He was left alone with the other three quickly, the doctor – Coran, he had introduced himself as – leaving them in peace to check on his other patients.

“We were so _worried_ about you,” Lance began, taking a seat beside Keith again, hand never letting go of his.

“When we got the call, we came straight over,” Hunk told him, as he and Pidge took the other seats on Keith’s other side.

Keith swallowed and licked his lips. “Shiro? Is he okay? What about Aunt and Uncle?” he asked, voice raspy and quiet.

The three of them exchanged a glance which Keith’s muddled brain couldn’t decipher. It filled him with dread so cold that it sat at the bottom of his stomach like a stone.

“Keith,” Hunk began, his warm brown eyes filling with tears. “Your Aunt and Uncle,” Keith held his breath, hand clenching Lance’s tight, “they didn’t make it.”

The world seemed to stop for a few seconds, and Keith tried to _breath_. His own eyes filled with tears, and his head throbbed slightly. They spilt down his cheeks silently as he titled his head back to regard the ceiling.

“A-And Shiro?” he asked, bracing himself for the worst.

“He made it,” Lance told him quietly, and Keith finally sobbed. “But, there were…complications getting him out of the wreck. He just came out of surgery ten minutes before you woke up.”

“Is he okay?” Keith asked shakily.

“Yeah,” Lance said, clutching his hand tighter. “He pulled through.”

Keith and Shiro came home to an empty house. Having been discharged from the hospital a few days before, the two had been staying with the McClain’s for the time it took to accustomed to what their new situation. But Shiro was becoming withdrawn, and Keith was getting antsy so the two decided to go home.

Which, now that Keith thought about it, wasn’t as good an idea as he thought.

Shiro broke down in tears the minute they stepped over the threshold, and the two of them ended up sitting on the carpet, Keith holding up the both of them as Shiro _wailed_ and Keith couldn’t take his gaze off of Shiro’s stump.

It was going to take Shiro a while to get acclimated to the loss of a limb, and it took many days of the two of them shouting at each other and then coming together again in tears before they could pick themselves up again.

Shiro went to therapy, and had encouraged Keith to come along with him, but he refused. He didn’t like the thought of laying out what happened that night to a complete stranger. He had enough nightmares about it without having to describe it to some psychiatrist.

He kept himself busy, however. And even thought he was a Junior in high school, he needed to get his grades up now if he wanted to get into a good college on a scholarship.

He could tell Shiro was watching him crumple, more mentally than physically, and his brother tried to help. But Keith kept him away with a six foot pole. It wasn’t until his fifth anxiety attack in the same amount of days that Shiro put his foot down and did something about the situation.

Keith hadn’t told anyone about what was going on, and Lance found out only by accident. Walking in on your best friend panicking in the school bathroom over something as small as a glass being dropped in the cafeteria was a _great_ way to find out how messed up he was.

Shiro was gone for the whole Sunday, and Keith didn’t really know where he’d gone, only that he hadn’t left a note and took the bike in the shed.

Keith spent most of the day cooped up in his bedroom, finishing assignments and homework, one that was a few days overdue that he sent to his teacher with an apology and meandering between his room and the kitchen for snacks.

It was late afternoon, almost early evening before he heard the rumbling of the bike’s engine. He heard voices outside, easily distinguishing Shiro’s from the others but didn’t bother to get up from his desk chair. That was until the front door opened and Shiro called up for him.

“Keith! Can you come down here a sec?”

And Keith groaned quietly, gazing forlornly at the almost finished English essay that was due tomorrow. He placed his pen back down on the tabletop, rolling his aching wrists and popping his knuckles as he made his way down the stairs.

Shiro looked surprisingly cheery, almost childishly giddy as he suddenly placed his hand on Keith’s shoulder. His prosthetic was a bit slow to react as he was still trying to get used to it, and the grip was a _little_ harsh, but Keith bared with it.

“I need you to close your eyes,” Shiro told him with utmost seriousness, although Keith could see the upticks in the corners of his mouth.

“If you’re going to push me into a kiddy pool or pour something down my back I swear to god Shiro, you’re dead,” Keith told him, but closing his eyes good naturedly.

“Now why would I do that to my baby brother?” Shiro asked him as he wandered behind him to push him out the door. “I’m not _that_ cruel.”

“Tell that to your younger self,” Keith quipped, and he could hear Shiro chuckle from behind him. It was good to hear Shiro laugh again, and so freely as well. Keith had spent too many nights cradling his big brother while Shiro sobbed into his shoulder.

He hated what that car crash had done to their family but couldn’t do anything to change it. Just being there for Shiro was what he was good at, and what his brother needed.

“Okay, I need you to stay here and stay very still, alright?” Shiro told him, stepping away when Keith guessed they were in the middle of the front drive.

“I swear Shiro, if this is an elaborate prank—”

“I know, I know I’m dead meat. You said that already,” Shiro told him, and Keith could hear his footsteps as he walked away.

Keith stayed right where he was, hands laying lax at his sides. The silence only stayed for a few seconds before something cold and wet glanced against the skin of Keith’s right hand. Keith yelped, loudly, drawing his hand towards his chest in fright.

“What was that?!” he asked almost desperately, voice cracking in the middle of the sentence.

“Keith, it’s alright, just relax,” Shiro’s voice told him, and Keith let his hand drop after a few seconds, his heart pounding slightly.

The cold wet thing was back again, but this time accompanied by a warm wet thing stroking along his skin, and Keith shivered.

“You can open your eyes now,” Shiro told him once the shock had worn off, and hesitantly Keith peeled his eye lids open.

There was a dog sitting next to him, wagging its tail and panting. Keith froze at the sight of it, completely surprised. The dog had the most unusual colouring to its coat, its fur so black it was almost blue in the sunlight. It was quite big as well, almost reaching his hip in height, and its ears twitched and flicked when a gust of wind fluttered past them.

Keith hesitantly reached out his hand towards the dogs muzzle and waited as it sniffed his fingers. Its tail wagged harder as Keith began to slowly scratch behind its ears, and he crouched to get closer to it. His mouth was almost split wide with the smile that stretched it and he could feel happy tears prickling the corners of his eyes.

“How…when?” he asked Shiro, hands occupied with stroking the dog from head to tail. He finally noticed Shiro was similarly busy petting a golden retriever across the driveway.

“It actually took a while to adopt these two. Hunk gave me the idea when he told me about his Uncle who adopted a dog after he got back from the war and how good it was for him. And I thought that it would be a good thing for us too,” Shiro explained, and he pointed to his own companion. “This is Daichi by the way.”

“Wisdom,” Keith replied, and Shiro nodded his head. “Do I get to name it too?”

“Him,” Shiro told him, and nodded as he finally sat down on the stone paving of the driveway.

Keith considered the dog for a few moments, running his fingers through his fur once again. “Kosmo,” he said to him, and the dog’s tail wagged harder, almost looking like a black coloured blur behind it.

It wasn’t until college that Keith got himself figured out, mentally and sexually. Although it had been a long time coming.

The gang coincidentally ended up going to the same college and Lance and Keith – surprise, surprise as Pidge would say – became roommates. Keith found himself staring at Lance more often.

It had been at a party that he found he didn’t really like girls. One tried to approach him, obviously drunk and had pulled on his belt after talking to him for five minutes. He’d extricated himself away from the situation, not liking the curling disgust in his stomach.

The days afterwards, he tried to logically convince himself it was because the girl was drunk and that he just hadn’t been in the mood.

But, he then thought about all the times a girl had either tried to approach him, or even get him on a date. He went through them all in his head, although there weren’t very many. As Lance says, he has the aura of a mafia criminal, liable to whip out a switchblade and threaten someone at any minute.

However, he’d never seemed that interested in any of them. And it wasn’t until he found his eyes _yet again_ drifting down to Lance’s shapely ass that he got onto Shiro on the phone. He felt slightly bad for having interrupted his date with Adam, but Shiro calmed his anxiety when Keith told him in a shaky voice about how confused he’d been feeling the past few weeks. 

And that was when he found out he, Keith Kogane, blade enthusiast, country boy adrenaline junky, was gay.

It felt like such a big word to describe tiny him, but he cradled it in his arms close to his chest, determined to keep it to himself for a while, to get used to it before anyone else bar Shiro found out. And he felt like he’d known for a while, but what with the craziness that had happened the last year, he’d never had a chance to actually sit and look at how he felt.

It felt good to do so now, almost freeing as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

It had been a stupid mistake, and Keith told Shiro as much. Slumped over a table in a café, he described how he’d hit on Lance at a party two nights before.

It was stupid, embarrassing and he had been drunk as he’d approached his roommate. He didn’t remember much of what he’d said, but it had been bad enough for Lance to be avoiding him for the past two days.

He found any reason to get out of the dorm room, leaving Keith with his own thoughts as he watched Lance’s retreating back.

“Well, what do you _want_ to do about it?” Shiro asked him, taking a sip from his cup of tea.

“I want to apologise,” Keith told him after a few seconds of silence. “What I did wasn’t exactly what best friends do with each other.”

“Ah well, you’d be surprised,” Shiro told him, thinking back to the very similar conversation he’d had with Lance the day before. “Here’s what I think you should do.”

“Apologise to Lance. It’s a good way to start off this kind of conversation,” Shiro said. “And tell him how you feel. It’s obvious how badly you want this Keith. There’s no point holding back what you have towards Lance now that it’s out in the open.”

Keith seemed to mull that over for a few seconds, running his thumb over the rim of his own coffee cup before tipping it back and finishing the contents in one gulp.

Shiro shuddered across from him. “Heathen.”

“Whimp,” Keith quipped back with a good natured smirk.

Keith wouldn’t call what he and Lance had a relationship. I mean, sure they cuddled sometimes during the gangs movie nights. And the angry make out sessions were good for blowing off steam, but that was it.

And he was okay with that. The two of them agreed it would be a bit too weird for them to have a relationship seeing as they had been best friends for so long after he had come out to Lance, and honestly he was fine with it.

That didn’t mean Keith didn’t feel a streak of hot jealousy when Lance took Allura on a date. He wouldn’t deny the two were perfect for each other. And he felt very happy for Lance, but Keith wanted to be the one to him smile.

At the end of the year, the two branched out, letting their dorm to another two people while Keith rented a small apartment five minutes from campus and Lance went to Allura’s dorm.

Keith felt very lucky with finding the apartment. Granted, it was tiny, but Keith didn’t mind. He spent most of his time in lectures, hanging with Shiro and sometimes Adam, or lying under his bike tuning her up, so he had no experience with dating. And he thought no one would even approach him as he didn’t think himself as ‘handsome’.

Which was why he was so surprised when someone came to sit next to him at the bar where he stood ordering drinks for the gang. He was tall, and he leant his arms against the wood of the bar top where Keith had a good view of his gorgeous biceps.

“Can I get you a drink?” he began his voice smooth, and Keith looked up at his glossy brown hair, so reminiscent of another’s, and his chocolate brown eyes. Keith blushed hard and stuttered for a few seconds.

“Uh, no thanks. I’m good uh…”

“James,” the guy introduced, smirking at Keith. “Hey, you’re that guy Kogane right? You’re in my shop class? You made that wicked design for a hoverbike.”

“Yeah, yeah that was me,” Keith said, cheeks growing so red he probably looked like a tomato. He talked with James for a while, not noticing Pidge coming up to collect their drinks instead. Nor Lance’s blue eyes glued to him through the night, eyebrows furrowed with his own jealousy.

“Oh my god James, it was _one night!_ Why can’t you just back off for _two minutes_!” Keith yelled, tossing the pencil he held in his hand to the floor.

“It was a betrayal, is what it was,” James told him, fuming across the room. “And no, you know how obsessive I get when my _boyfriend_ wanders off with his best friend and leaves no note!”

“It was just to help him with a goddamn project! Why can’t you get it through your fucking head that I love _you_ not _him_!” Keith shouted at him, while a tiny corner of his brain denied that thought. He shoved it down, locking it in a tiny box.

“Oh yeah?!” James shouted. “Well fucking _prove it_!”

And Keith stormed forward, slamming his lips against James’ and leading him swiftly and clumsily towards the bedroom.

_It was bound to happen_ , Keith thought as the door slammed shut with a hard _bang_ behind him.

He practically sprinted out of the apartment complex before James could run after him with crocodile tears. He sped walked through the cold night before coming across a seedy looking bar.

Not feeling very picky, he stepped in, heaving himself up on a stool and ordering a whisky.

“Keith?” said a voice he hadn’t heard in _months._ He turned his head quickly, suddenly noticing who was sitting next to him one stool over.

Lance didn’t look good at all, the bags under his eyes harsh against his usually gorgeous complexion. His hair was limp and looked slightly greasy atop his head, and his blue eyes seemed to have lost the same sparkle Keith had so loved when they were kids, and then teenagers, and finally as a young adult. Although, he probably didn’t look any better.

“Lance?” he asked breathlessly. “What’re you doing here?”

Lance laughed almost bitterly. “I could ask you the same thing.”

Keith glared down at the wood of the bar counter, cradling his drink between his hands. “Broke up with James,” he said quietly. “He was a bit too…controlling.”

He could see Lance nodding out of the corner of his eye. “What about you?”

“Had a bad break up with Allura. Her old boyfriend – Lotor – came back, and it turns out I was no more than a rebound for her,” he replied almost bitterly. “But, what can you do?”

And Keith looked at Lance in a new light. It felt nice to have his best friend by his side, and it surprised him how much he’d missed him.

They spent the rest of the night like that, catching up with each other until the bar tender had to kick them out. Although, he didn’t seem very guilty about it.

“Where’re you staying?” Keith asked Lance.

“Hunk is letting me stay the night until I can get things organised, you?” he said.

“Still the same,” Keith said, and Lance laughed at the remembrance of Keith’s tiny but cosy apartment where there had been many games of cards and movie nights.

“Right, well. Don’t be a stranger okay?” Lance told him, and Keith watched his retreating back down the street.

“Come on, pay up,” Pidge said to Hunk, holding out her hand to accept the twenty dollars that he owed her.

“You guys seriously had a bet on them?” Shiro asked the two of them where he stood with Adam at the top of the altar. The two of them looked dashing in their white suits, as Lance had ordered them to be dressed.

“Oh yeah,” Hunk said, “we had a bet on you two as well. But I won that one because I said Adam would propose first.” And Shiro blushed hard, Adam laughing loudly beside him.

“So goddamn unfair,” Pidge grumped.

“Language, we’re in a church Pidge,” Shiro admonished while Adam chuckled from beside him.

“Yeah well, the man upstairs can’t smite me because he doesn’t exist,” Pidge said with a shrug and Hunk squeaked, slapping his own hand over Pidge’s mouth. She licked a long strip of saliva up his hand to which he yelped at and wiped his hand against his trousers.

“Here they come,” Adam suddenly murmured as the quartet began to play, and the guests all stood up.

Lance was the one who planned the wedding, not on his own mind you. Veronica had helped a little.

As a kid he’d always wanted to marry the one he loved on Veradero beach, with the waves crashing against the shore beside him and the sun blazing down on his guests.

He wanted to walk up the aisle with the one he loved, as equals hand in hand to meet the priest at the altar. He had never wanted bridesmaids, or a big wedding party. Just a simple dinner and a dance afterwards.

And as he walked up the aisle, with he and Keith smartly dressed in white tie tuxedos he thought it couldn’t get more perfect. The blue and red flowers tucked behind their ears complemented the violets that surrounded the chairs and the archway where their best friends stood.

They held hands tightly where they stood before their family and friends, declaring their vows which Lance had work on for weeks with his. And he swore Keith had pulled his out from his ass that morning, knowing him. But it sent both of them into tears, and when their lips met at the end, it was the best one they had yet.

And the two of them knew that this was where they wanted to be. Together, through thick and thin. Loving each other for who they were and never letting go. In sickness and in health. For better or worse.

As long as they both shall live. 


End file.
